The Wall Street
Journal reported this morning (Monday, 10/28/13 , page A4) that Hillary Clinton’s people say Mrs.
Clinton “isn’t calibrating her speeches to make inroads with various Democratic
constituencies.”
Oh, c’mon! Just how
naïve do Hillary’s people think we are?
As loyal readers know, I am not one to overestimate the insight or
attention span of the American electorate; indeed, I am fond of citing one of
my hero H.L. Mencken’s most famous, and misquoted, statements, to wit,
“No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched the
records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by
underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor
has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
But are even we supposed to believe that Hillary, a very
good (but not nearly as good as her husband, but that is grist for another
mill) politician, doesn’t say everything she says with an eye toward
maintaining her “political viability” and attaining the next slot on the public
trough? Not a word passes her lips that
she, and probably a gaggle of handlers, has not spliced, diced, and de-iced
for possible political piquancy.
Or perhaps Hillary’s handlers are right; maybe Hillary says
nothing to make inroads with any particular constituency, Democratic or
otherwise. Perhaps she says things to
make inroads with everybody. Note her comments on a deficit reduction
package that addresses both added revenues (higher taxes in political speak)
and entitlement reform:
“What has worked is a
compromise where, yes, we raise revenues for a certain period and we go and
look at entitlements to see what is fair and can be done without really
disadvantaging either existing beneficiaries or people who are going to rely on
those programs.”
So Mrs. Clinton will boldly go for a program of entitlement
reform that doesn’t “really” disadvantage…anyone.
Talk about bold leadership for the new millennium!
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